Classical Academic Press has added another jewel to its collection of books, and Mortimer Adler: The Paideia Way of Classical Education, written by Dr. Robert Woods, is of that quality one expects to find in this delightful series. The book’s greatest feature besides being an accurate portrayal of Adler and his work is that it […]
“Being Mortal:” An Essential (But Neglected) Discussion in the Recovery of Christian Humanism
Having pastored a couple of churches in a big city for a number of years, I spend a lot of time visiting folks in the hospital and conducting my fair share of funerals and memorial services. Walking with people through illness and death is, for me, one of the most emotionally taxing experiences a person […]
Read More This Year with Audiobooks
Do you wish you had more time to read good books? Are you trying to find ways to increase your reading intake? Is there a book you’ve been dying to read, but just can’t fit one more thing into your schedule? I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to read more and improve my reading […]
Seven Reasons to Read the Great Books
If you’ve ever considered reading the classics, or as Mortimer Adler referred to them, the Great Books, I want to suggest seven reasons for starting, immediately. Let’s jump right in. Reason #1 Mark Twain famously noted that a classic is a book everyone talks about, but no one has actually read. Because the publishing of books […]
A Fool and His Fragrances
Proverbs 17:7 (ESV): Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a prince. Proverbs 19:10 (ESV): It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less for a slave to rule over princes. Proverbs 26:1 (ESV): Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting […]
Homer’s Cauldron of Story
If Helen is the face that launched a thousand ships, Homer will be, undoubtedly, the pen that inspired a thousand poets. Though Homer first penned The Iliad and The Odyssey nearly twenty-eight hundred years ago, the epics had been recited from memory for four hundred years before that. As some of the oldest surviving epics, […]
How to Read a Greek Tragedy
One reason reading literature from the classical period is a pleasure many fail to indulge is simply because accessing it can seem intimidating. While there are many genres of classical literature worth reading, this short piece will serve as an instructional primer on how to read a Greek tragedy using Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannos as a […]
Why Secular Education is Untenable
One of the hallmarks of modern education is the belief that education should be secular. According to the OED, secular is defined as being “distinguished from the church and religion; civil, lay, temporal… meaning non-ecclesiastical, non-religious, or non-sacred.” The modern notion of education is an attempt to transfer knowledge from one generation to the next […]
Modern Thought and Ethics with Flannery O’Connor
Surprisingly, not all literature lovers share that love for the stories of Flannery O’Connor. They are disturbed by the strangeness of her characters. Those familiar with the works of Flannery O’Connor know the characters of her stories most often embody such a nature as can only be described by grotesque. Some of her characters even […]
Musing on Words
Some ideas are interesting enough that they will pass by repeatedly, flirting with and teasing your mind until you grab ahold of one of them and throw it down on the paper so you can examine it more thoroughly.
Book Review: Science and the Mind of the Maker
Hard as one may try not to, a reader cannot come to a book without a certain expectation. That expectation is generally rooted in the questions the reader hopes the author intends to answer or expects the author will answer based on the title, the cover, or the blurb on the flap. The trouble with […]
The Value of Rhetoric in Rational Public Discourse
To say rational public discourse is lacking in the modern West would be an egregious understatement. As demonstrated in an earlier post, the social censorship of rational public discourse now looms ominously over the culture.
A Brief History of Christian Humanism
Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles.
The Foundation of Christian Humanism
The Incarnation of Christ, being a complete union of his divine and human natures, informs the very essence of the vision of Christian humanism—divinity came down to humanity and united with it to the end that fallen humans could be redeemed to live out their best lives to the glory of God.
Distinctions in Christian Humanism
In this post, I want to help clarify some more of the nuances and ambiguities that need to be addressed if we are to recover the kind of Christian humanism that actually promotes human flourishing.
Identifying Christian Humanism
Secular, or modern humanism, by virtue of its tenets, lacks the necessary tools to cultivate the imagination for the renewal of culture. The best this kind of humanism can do is exploit the volatile fractures within the culture by means of the inhumanness of the scientific method, the injustice of social justice, and the instability of multiculturalism.
Recovering Christian Humanism
Recovering Christian humanism will greatly benefit the culture, but it will be extremely difficult because the nature of the human heart is to fiercely resist renewal any way possible—and defend its loot to the death.
Reclaiming the Foundation for Cultural Identity
However, hidden beneath the surface, at the very foundation, is a shift in thought about the relationship between culture and politics. Historically, politics flowed out of the culture; whereas the current division is characterized by culture being forged from political activity.
Recovering Beauty in Art
Western Civilization has a long history of cultivating the kind of social order that makes this kind of human flourishing possible. But that does not mean Western Civilization has been without its conflicts and fractures, maladies that have pushed it to the edge of chaos–which seems to be where it’s heading now.
Renewing Rational Public Discourse
To be clear, what follows is not meant to be a political rant, but an astute observation and a simple solution to one of the enormous and complex social problems in America today, the censorship of public discourse—usually via social media sound bites, legal spin, and public shaming. As just stated, the problem in view […]
Ten Guaranteed Methods to Overcome Writer’s Block Today
Seth Godin often reminds writers that plumbers don’t get plumber’s block. Plumbers are craftsmen who have mastered their craft and just roll up their sleeves and do the work when called on. What he means is that while it’s true writer’s are creatives, they are craftsmen first and foremost. Writing is rolling up your sleeves […]
Is This Going To Be On The Test?
Inevitably I will have students who ask questions like, “Is this going to be on the test?” or “Do we have to turn this assignment in?” If you’re a teacher, this query is not a matter of if, but when; and educators worth their salt will immediately recognize this line of thinking as problematic. Education […]
Teachers are in the Customer Service Business
Teachers love to teach. They love their students and spend long hours preparing lessons and grading papers for the reward of a few minutes of face time with them each day. They get giddy when those teachable moments emerge and rejoice that their hard work has paid off when a student finally “gets it.” Teachers […]
Principle Over Policy
It was in the military that I first conceptualized organizational policy and understood its significance. Standing in formation on the patio deck of our barracks, we all held the same little blue ATO (Airmen Training Order) in front of our faces with our right hands, our left hands placed neatly in the small of our […]
Love, and Do What Thou Wilt in 2018
So 2017 is coming to a close and the New Year is on its way in. You’ve probably noticed social media is filled with laments of how bad last year “sucked,” seen various lists of personal achievements and failures, and read endless advertisements for programs that will help you succeed—whatever that might look like—in 2018. Regardless […]
Waiting for Strength
Yesterday was the beginning of Advent Season. Advent comes from the Latin word, adventus, meaning “coming,” and it’s typically used in reference to two events: the incarnation of Christ and the Parousia of Christ. In the western context, Advent is observed during the four Sundays immediately preceding Christmas, while the eastern churches begin the observance […]
James Schall Quotes on the Significance of Education
Quotes on education from Fr. James Schall In this sense, the beginning of wisdom is a small dose of humility, of our willingness to acknowledge how much was known and learned before we ourselves ever were. Consequently, if we are to confront the greatest minds we must do so in their books, to which we […]
The Art of Reading
There are basically three kinds of reading. We can read for entertainment, read for information, or read for understanding. Reading for entertainment is the simplest of all reading. While it’s true we can be entertained when we read for information or understanding, reading strictly for entertainment is its own kind of reward. When we read […]
A Primer for Thinking and Writing About History
Anyone who has contemplated researching and writing about the past would benefit from a careful reading of Livy’s History of Rome. In his introduction, he offers a compelling apology for studying history: There is this exceptionally beneficial and fruitful advantage to be derived from the study of the past, that you see, set in the […]
What Are You Creating Today?
You could create value in the world. You could create more noise. You could create a warm memory. You could create a painful one. You could create better relationships. You could create division. You could create life. You could create death. You could create chaos. You could create order. You could create peace. You could […]
How To Prepare Tomorrow’s Menu
We are historical beings. Like the surface of standing water, our present state of being is the sum total of all the water beneath the surface. Like a garden, the produce we are harvesting is a result of the seeds we have been planting. Said another way, today is the sum total of all the […]
One More Thing I’m Thankful For
Yesterday I shared a few of the things that I am thankful for. Today, I want to share one more thing, something I never want to take for granted. That “one more thing” is you! I’m thankful for you. I’m thankful for each of you who read this blog. It’s true that I would still […]
A Few of My Favorite Things
I was recently mulling over some lists I’ve made in the past, lists of things I was thankful for. One list I came across was written several years ago. I was surprised that, with only some slight modifications, many of the things I had been thankful for then were still relevant today. Some were […]
An Evening Praise (From the Valley of Vision)
Today, I offer you ‘Evening Praise” from The Valley of Vision. It’s a beautiful and stirring Puritan prayer. As I often do with my students, I encourage you to read it contemplatively. First, read it through silently at your regular reading speed. Take it in, as C.S. Lewis says in “A Preface to Paradise Lost” the […]
Thank God for our Heritage
As you know, Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving this week. For some it will be a time of great celebration as they gather with family and friends, and feast on Turkey and other traditional fixings. For others, holidays like this are a time of great consternation and discouragement. For others still, it’s a day like every […]
What is a Liberal Arts Education?
This fascinating interview with Philip Ryken and Jeffrey Davis by Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio addresses the importance of a liberal arts education in the 21st century. It’s about 26 minutes long and definitely worth a listen if you’ve ever wondered what Classical Christian education is all about. I hope you’ll take a listen. LISTEN […]
Why History is Not Bunk!
Henry Ford is best known for his Model T and Fordism. But it was the infamous quip, “History is bunk,” attributed to the petulant industrialist by a Chicago Tribune reporter, that Aldous Huxley would use to immortalize Ford as a modernist philosopher. In his dystopian novel, Brave New World, Huxley successfully indulges our imagination by […]
A Dirty Word
Humanism is a dirty word to a lot of Christians. As an ethical posture, humanism claims to promote social justice on behalf of the dignity of the human being. As a philosophy it emphasizes reason and naturalism, and vehemently opposes the metaphysical, specifically faith and religion. Very often the adjective secular is added to clarify […]
A Theology of Contemplation
At the root of Christian Humanism–the study of the Great Books, Human Letters, or the Liberal Arts, toward the pursuit of the true, good, and beautiful–is a theology of contemplation. Though this leisurely art is an important feature of being human, it is all but lost in 21st-century America. It’s no less true of the church. […]
The Priceless Discipline of Sharing
I recently encountered a statement in which the author wrote, “The discipline of sharing something daily is priceless.” By sharing he meant practicing his craft by getting it out to his audience. He was not saying the thing he was sharing was priceless (though, obviously it was important) but the discipline, the hard work and […]
How to Slay the Dragon of Classroom Anxiety
I’ve written about this before, but when I was in the second grade, my teacher kept a barf bag in her desk just for me. At the time, I didn’t realize there was an actual name for my experience, but if I was in a public elementary school today, I would probably get diagnosed with […]
Book Review: Thoughts on The Double Helix by J.D. Watson
The Double Helix is not a science book; rather, it is a literary book about scientists—a fascinating account of one of the most important discoveries of the 20th-century. Sir Lawrence Bragg advises the reader of this important fact in the Forward when he outlines what he believes are the three salient themes that surface in […]
What is Truth?
This is the famous statement Pilate asked Jesus just before he crucified him. Spiritual revelation aside, this is also the question humans have been asking for nearly all of our existence on the earth. But does truth matter? Does it really concern any of us if someone else has a different perspective on what is […]
What is the Happy Life?
In Steven Conrad’s 2006 drama, The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner (the protagonist played by Will Smith) lays the thesis of the film at the feet of the viewers when he says, “It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, […]
Enrich the Well From Which You Draw Your Inspiration
Last week I began a discussion around the idea that if we want people to read and follow our work, it has to be interesting. I don’t mean interesting in the sense of cool, hip, or flashy. I mean intriguing and meaningful in a human sort of way. It concerns me that so many writers are […]
Three Tips to Writing Interesting Work that Actually Gets Read
If you want people to read and follow your work, you have to be able to write something interesting. And isn’t that what all of us writers want–to write interesting work? While there are a lot of us calling ourselves writers, how many of us are doing really interesting work. Those who are doing interesting work seem […]
An Existential Evaluation
If you have ever wondered why you exist, or if you had a purpose in the world—if there was a place in this complex universe designed specifically for you—congratulations! You’re human. Wondering about the meaning of life, and about your place in the universe is sometimes referred to as an existential crisis. But since it’s a […]
No Reason for Christmas
Celebrations don’t generally need justification, as most of us find plenty of reasons for celebrating. Friday night, for example, is when lots of people let their hair down after a long week at work. In our modern industrialized culture that values work and production above most everything else, a Friday night “out on the town” is […]
A Lesson From a Tombstone: Part Six
{If you missed it you can read Part One here, read Part Two here, read Part Three here, read Part Four here, and read Part Five here.} Lastly, the nameless dead man died foolishly. His epitaph will forever be: died eating library paste. What could be more absurd, more ridiculous, than a man eating library paste and […]
A Lesson From a Tombstone: Part Five
{If you missed it you can read Part One here, read Part Two here, read Part Three here, and read Part Four here.} The nameless man was dead. And strangely, it wasn’t his dying that got to me. We will all die one day. As the fellow said, “No one gets off this planet alive.” Dying is […]